Latest news with #Kremlin-affiliated
Qatar Tribune
07-07-2025
- Politics
- Qatar Tribune
Russian transport minister found dead after being sacked by Putin
dpa Moscow The Russian transport minister recently sacked by President Vladimir Putin, Roman Starovoit, has been found dead with a gunshot wound in a car, the central investigative committee in Moscow reported on Monday. 'The circumstances of the incident are currently being investigated. The main theory is suicide,' the spokeswoman for the investigative authority, Svetlana Petrenko, said, adding that the body of the 53-year-old was found in his private car. However, the Kremlin-affiliated Telegram channel Shot, with more than 1 million subscribers, showed videos early in the evening of investigators not pulling Starovoit's body from the car but carrying it from a bush. A Tesla, which the minister is said to have driven privately, can also be seen. His assistant is also visible in the videos; she is said to have been his lover and identified the family man. Russian media had earlier reported that the politician shot himself at his residence in Odintsovo in the Moscow region. The pistol was said to have been lying next to him. Several bloggers doubted the official version given by the investigative committee and suggested that the case raises many questions. There was initially no official confirmation for various reports that the minister is said to have taken his own life over the weekend while still in office. Several media outlets also reported another mysterious death in the Ministry of Transport on Monday. A high-ranking official, frequently named and said to be aged 42, is reported to have died there during a meeting. The talk is of cardiac arrest, although there was initially no official confirmation of this. Commentators in political Telegram channels speculated that Starovoit might have been shot or driven to suicide as part of power plays. In the decree published in Moscow earlier on Monday, Putin did not give any reasons why Starovoit, the former governor of the western Russian region of Kursk, who was appointed as transport minister in May last year, was leaving his post. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov also did not provide a reason. The occasionally used phrase 'loss of trust' was missing from the decree, Peskov confirmed. Starovoit's deputy, Andrey Nikitin, has been appointed acting transport minister.
Miami Herald
07-07-2025
- Politics
- Miami Herald
Russian transport minister found dead after being sacked by Putin
MOSCOW - The Russian transport minister recently sacked by President Vladimir Putin, Roman Starovoit, has been found dead with a gunshot wound in a car, the central investigative committee in Moscow reported on Monday. "The circumstances of the incident are currently being investigated. The main theory is suicide," the spokeswoman for the investigative authority, Svetlana Petrenko, said, adding that the body of the 53-year-old was found in his private car. However, the Kremlin-affiliated Telegram channel Shot, with more than 1 million subscribers, showed videos early in the evening of investigators not pulling Starovoit's body from the car but carrying it from a bush. A Tesla, which the minister is said to have driven privately, can also be seen. His assistant is also visible in the videos; she is said to have been his lover and identified the family man. Many questions raised and second death in the ministry Russian media had earlier reported that the politician shot himself at his residence in Odintsovo in the Moscow region. The pistol was said to have been lying next to him. Several bloggers doubted the official version given by the investigative committee and suggested that the case raises many questions. There was initially no official confirmation for various reports that the minister is said to have taken his own life over the weekend while still in office. Several media outlets also reported another mysterious death in the Ministry of Transport on Monday. A high-ranking official, frequently named and said to be aged 42, is reported to have died there during a meeting. The talk is of cardiac arrest, although there was initially no official confirmation of this. Speculation about power plays and murder Commentators in political Telegram channels speculated that Starovoit might have been shot or driven to suicide as part of power plays. Other cases of criminal prosecution of ministers or high-ranking officials have shown in the past that even a conviction to a prison sentence is not a reason to take one's life, as the prison conditions for such members of the power apparatus are comfortable, and the sentences are not served to the end, commentators said. In the decree published in Moscow earlier on Monday, Putin did not give any reasons why Starovoit, the former governor of the western Russian region of Kursk, who was appointed as transport minister in May last year, was leaving his post. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov also did not provide a reason. The occasionally used phrase "loss of trust" was missing from the decree, Peskov confirmed. Starovoit's deputy, Andrey Nikitin, has been appointed acting transport minister. Scandal over missing border protection in Kursk? It was unclear why Starovoit might have taken his own life. According to media reports, the politician from the Kremlin party United Russia could have been blamed for failures from his time as governor of the Kursk region, where Ukrainian troops took over dozens of localities in August of the previous year. Starovoit's successor as governor of the Kursk region, Alexei Smirnov, has been detained for alleged fraud. Kursk is where Ukrainian troops captured dozens of villages in August last year, in a temporary but embarrassing blow for the Russian army. Smirnov became governor of Kursk in May 2024 but was forced to resign in December after Ukrainian troops invaded. The case against Smirnov centers on the fact that funds for the construction of fortifications on the border with Ukraine were allegedly not spent appropriately. These fortifications were built from 2022, shortly after Putin ordered Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The fact that Ukrainian troops were seemingly able to march in without problems caused shock and raised critical questions across Russia. Other reasons for dismissal suspected These fortification lines were allegedly built from 2022, shortly after the start of the war against Ukraine ordered by Putin. As governor, Starovoit had already reported the completion of these facilities. Then came the incursion of Ukrainian troops. Although there is no known investigation into Starovoit, media in Moscow reported that he might have come under the scrutiny of investigators. He could have faced up to 20 years in prison if convicted of embezzling funds during the construction of the border protection facilities, the reports said. Russian commentators also cited the chaos at Russian airports as a possible reason for his dismissal. Hundreds of flights have been canceled in the middle of the holiday season due to frequent Ukrainian drone attacks. _____ Copyright (C) 2025, Tribune Content Agency, LLC. Portions copyrighted by the respective providers.
New York Post
19-06-2025
- Politics
- New York Post
Armies of Kremlin and Iran bots aimed at attempting to destroy MAGA: report
Russia and Iran are targeting the Make America Great Again movement and trying to 'destabilize the right from within,' according to a new report. Both rogue states are using tens of thousands of social media bots to amplify untrue voices and opinions 'masquerading as MAGA loyalists,' to cause chaos and confusion and question US leadership, The Post has learned. The bots are automated software applications that mimic human activity on social media. Advertisement They are used to amplify real-life influencers who post untrue 'false flag' narratives designed to discredit President Donald Trump and his conservative stalwarts, according to a bombshell new report from the Network Contagion Research Institute, a politically neutral nonprofit who study extremism on the web. 5 The same foreign playbook that undid the Democratic party is trying to destroy MAGA from within, according to a new NCRI report. REUTERS 'If you talk to Republicans right now, more than 80 percent of them support the war against Iran. But if you go on Twitter you get the sense that there is a civil war raging. Advertisement 'This is exactly the purpose of the psychological operation — to destabilize people's perceptions of institutions that are supposed to protect us,' said an NCRI analyst. The bots make it look like extreme posters have tons more support than they actually have, which helps to persuade other real life viewers that what they are posting is legitimate. The bots use innocuous, average names and have profiles which make them appear as average Americans. NCRI says after domestic attacks, including the Uvalde school shooting, Matthew Crooks assassination attempt on Donald Trump and the murder of two Israeli embassy staffers in Washington DC in May it has noticed an alarming trend of a 'false flag reflex'. Advertisement 'Within minutes of initial reports [the events are recast] as evidence of hidden conspiratorial plots, obscuring the true motives and perpetrators. 'In the days following these crises, Kremlin-affiliated propagandists and Iranian state-linked media are able to rapidly inject narratives that are taken up by MAGA-impostor influencers, who then inject them into MAGA-branded spaces,' the report notes. 5 Noctis Draven, who is a regular consultant for Kremlin media, spread the 'false flag' story about the murder of two Israeli staffers in an attempt to push a conspiracy theory that Israel was behind the deaths. Network Contagion Research Institute 5 Evidence from a Network Contagion Research Institute's report showing bots spreading misinformation calling real events 'false flags' Network Contagion Research Institute Advertisement The group points to Draven Noctis, a real person and US veteran who frequently contributes to Russian state media, and has a potential reach of 2.4 million with more than 180,000 followers on X. 'It's so expensive in the US and Canada that even refugees can't understand how we make it,' he says in a 2024 TikTok post while describing the US as a 'slave system' designed to impoverish its own citizens. 'We are free range humans in an open-air prison of taxes and bulls–t distractions and we think it's completely normal,' he continues. In an earlier post on EurAsia Daily, a Kremlin propaganda outlet, he is shown in military uniform urging Ukrainian soldiers to defect to Russia. The message is written in Cyrillic alphabet, propaganda which is then republished by bots. 5 Jackson Hinkle, a social media influencer, spreads anti-Western conspiracies to his more than three million X followers. Getty Images The 'false flag' narrative surrounding the murder of two Israeli embassy staffers in May – absurdly attempting to claim the man charged with the shooting was, in fact, working on behalf of Israel – was another case in point, the nonprofit says. 'Foreign-linked seeders, such as Noctis, inject crisis narratives within minutes of breaking news. Their content is then mass-republished by clusters of inauthentic accounts, according to the NCRI report. 'Domestic personalities with large but unstable followings – [such as noted trolls like] Jackson Hinkle supply a veneer of grassroots legitimacy, completing an 'asset-adjacency' model in which fringe US influencers ride the same engagement farms that propel Kremlin messaging,' the NCRI report says. Between May 1 and June 10, NCRI recorded 675,000 posts on X referencing 'false flag' and drawing nearly four million interactions, according to the report, adding activity spiked in two sharp bursts: on May 24 after the embassy shooting and on June 3 after the firebombing of a Jewish demonstration in Boulder. Advertisement 5 X user Red Pill Media claims to be based in the US, but was found to originate in Karachi, Pakistan. Eyal Yakoby/ Red Pill Media/ X 'False-flag allegations occupy a privileged corner of Russian hybrid-warfare doctrine: a ready-made, easily adaptable alibi that flips blame, muddies attribution, and buys time for diplomatic misdirection,' the report says. For instance, a tweet from 'Red Pill Media,' which identifies itself as 'exposing Zionist terrorism' and has nearly 81,000 followers on its X account claims to be based in the US, but another user recently revealed that the account belongs to Abdul Abbas in Karachi, Pakistan. Working through firebrand right wing social media influencers, Kremlin-affiliated propagandists also conducted 'a coordinated assault' against Trump, according to the report. Advertisement 'It's a combination of an artificial voice with a real voice,' said an analyst with NCRI. 'It destroyed the Democratic party and now they are going after MAGA.' The network is quick to jump on and twist almost any story in the news cycle, and have recently trained their sights on President Trump, NCRI says. 'The network's goals extend beyond crisis exploitation,' the report says. 'After leveraging the false-flag frame to pose as MAGA loyalists, the same actors pivoted to accuse Donald Trump of pedophilia and to disseminate Iranian state leaks portraying IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) as an Israeli proxy.'
Yahoo
10-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Russia hits ‘shipbuilding sites' in Kyiv
Russia hit military sites in Kyiv overnight including 'aviation, missile, armoured vehicle and ship-building facilities', its defence ministry claimed. Kremlin officials said attacks on the Ukrainian capital struck command centres, troop deployment sites, weapon and equipment storage hubs, military airfield infrastructure, ammunition warehouses and fuel depots. 'All designated targets have been hit,' the defence ministry added. Kremlin-affiliated state media reported that attacks had also struck the Artem plant in Kyiv, a missile production facility. Challenging Russia's claim, Timur Tkachenko, head of Kyiv's military administration, wrote on Telegram: 'Once again, Russian strikes are not hitting military targets, but the lives of ordinary people.' Kyiv is home to only one major shipyard, the Kuznia na Rybalskomu facility, which produces vessels for the Ukrainian navy. Ukraine has not yet confirmed if it was hit during the Russian attacks. An air alert for civilians remained active in the capital for five hours overnight as seven of the city's 10 districts fielded aggressive attacks which left residential buildings and a business centre smouldering. Ukrainian officials said that one person was killed and four more injured in Kyiv, as Volodymyr Zelensky claimed that 'concrete action' was needed to prevent future attacks. In the southern port city of Odesa, attacks on residential buildings and a maternity hospital left two people dead and nine wounded, according to Oleh Kiper, head of the regional military administration. Thanks for following our live coverage of the war in Ukraine. It has now ended for the day. Here's a reminder of what happened today: Volodymyr Zelensky called on the United States and Europe to respond to a fresh bout of Russian attacks The Telegraph's Senior Foreign Correspondent Memphis Barker described the intense sounds and smells of Russia's overnight bombardment on Kyiv Ukraine's military intelligence chief claimed that Russia has agreed to help North Korea begin production of Shahed-style 'kamikaze' drones Ukraine said it had exchanged captured soldiers with Russia, the second stage of an agreement struck at peace talks last week We will be back with more updates and analysis soon. The European Commission has proposed an 18th package of sanctions against Russia targeting its energy exports, financial institutions and military industry, with the aim of forcing Moscow to stop dragging its feet in negotiations. The measures include proposals to lower the G7 price cap on Russian oil from $60 to $45 per barrel and tighten measures against the country's 'shadow fleet.' Speaking at a joint press conference with Kaja Kallas on Tuesday, Ursula von der Leyen, the European Commission president, called the sanctions 'robust' and 'hard-biting', adding 'our message is clear: This war must end.' In May, European leaders threatened Moscow with 'massive' sanctions if it refused to agree to a ceasefire in Ukraine. The US plans to cut funding for a programme building new weapons for Ukraine, Pete Hegseth has said. Mr Hegseth, the US defence secretary, suggested the move was an attempt to achieve a 'negotiated peaceful settlement' in the war, but did not specify how far the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (Usai) would be cut. Under the programme, the Pentagon issues contracts to US defence firms to build equipment for Kyiv. 'We believe a negotiated peaceful settlement is in the best interests of both parties and our nation's interest, especially with all the competing interests around the globe,' Mr Hegseth told a congressional committee on Tuesday. 'I don't think the word victory has been well defined or the path to it. And as a result the path to peace that stops the killing and the carnage is something that president Trump is very invested in.' Ukraine said it had exchanged captured soldiers with Russia, the second stage of an agreement struck at peace talks last week for each side to free more than 1,000 prisoners. 'We continue the return of our people, as agreed in Istanbul,' Volodymyr Zelensky wrote on X, confirming the exchange without immediately disclosing the exact number of returnees. 'Today marks the first stage of the return of our injured and severely wounded warriors from Russian captivity. All of them require immediate medical attention. This is an important humanitarian act,' the Ukrainian president added. Lev Shlosberg, a senior member of the Russian opposition party Yabloko, was arrested and charged with allegedly 'discrediting' Russia's armed forces on Tuesday after he made several remarks condemning the war in Ukraine, Reuters reports. In January, Mr Shlosberg described the war as a game of 'bloody chess' and said 'we must first stop killing people.' Members of the Yabloko party said that Mr Shlosberg's arrest was linked to these remarks, and that he faces up to five years in prison if convicted. Mr Shlosberg was labelled a 'foreign agent' by Russia's Justice Ministry in 2023 and faces separate criminal charges for refusing to comply with this label. Kyiv's St. Sophia Cathedral was damaged overnight in one of the largest Russian air attacks on the capital since the full-scale war began. Officials said that a blast wave destroyed a cornice on the main apse of the cathedral, one of Kyiv's most iconic buildings which dates back to the early 11th century and is a UNESCO World Heritage site. Mykola Tochytskyi, Ukraine's Minister of Culture and Strategic Communications, wrote on Facebook: 'Last night, the enemy struck at the very heart of our identity again.' 'St. Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv, a shrine that has survived centuries and symbolises the birth of our statehood, has been damaged,' Mr Tochytskyi continued. Russia launched one of its biggest air attacks on Kyiv overnight, officials said, using more than 300 drones and seven missiles in strikes that also hit other parts of the country. One person was killed and several more injured in the five hour-long attack on the capital that hit seven of the city's 10 districts, according to Vitali Klitschko, Kyiv's mayor. A Telegraph journalist was holed up in an air raid shelter and heard the buzzing of drones, followed by gunfire and loud explosions throughout the night. In the southern port city of Odesa, a maternity hospital and residential buildings were also hit, killing two people and injuring nine, local authorities said. Condemning the attacks, Andriy Yermak, Volodymyr Zelensky's chief of staff, said: 'You can't break Ukrainians with terror.' It came a day after Moscow launched its biggest overnight drone bombardment of the three-year war, considered part of a retaliatory response to Ukraine's extraordinary June 1 drone attack on Russia's remote bomber bases. 'It is vital that the response to this and other similar Russian attacks is not silence from the world, but concrete action,' Mr Zelensky said this morning, adding that two of the missiles were North Korean-made. In the aftermath of Ukraine's audacious 'Operation Spider's Web', which claimed as many as 41 of Russia's military jets in drone attacks on four airbases across the country last Sunday, Vladimir Putin vowed revenge, writes Lisa Haseldine. Relaying his conversation with the Russian president in the attack's aftermath, Donald Trump said – without the slightest hint of alarm or condemnation – 'president Putin did say, and very strongly, that he will have to respond to the recent attack on the airfields'. Now, it appears that response has arrived. Overnight, Moscow launched its 'biggest overnight bombardment' of the war so far, according to Ukraine's air force, directing 479 drones and 20 missiles predominantly at the western and central parts of the country. The attack reached as far west as Rivne, unnerving Poland – Ukraine's neighbour – to such a degree that it felt compelled to scramble its air force to patrol for stray missiles. One woman was killed in Russia's huge combined overnight attack on the Ukrainian capital, announced Timur Tkachenko, head of Kyiv's military administration.'Once again, Russian strikes are not hitting military targets, but the lives of ordinary people. This once more shows the true essence of what we are dealing with,' Mr Tkachenko wrote on contradicts Russia's account of the attacks, which its defence ministry had claimed targeted military facilities. The Kremlin has said that it is still in talks with Kyiv over an exchange of soldiers killed in the war. Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman, said that refrigerated trailers containing the bodies of Ukrainian soldiers had been waiting at the border for 'several days', in a statement to Russian media on Tuesday. Mr Peskov claimed that Ukraine has not yet provided bodies for the exchange. Moscow previously said that 1,000 bodies were to be handed over from its side. The exchange was agreed in Istanbul on June 2. It comes after both sides exchanged seriously wounded soldiers and those under the age of 25 on Monday. Viktor Orban, the Hungarian prime minister, said that Russia is 'too weak' to attack Nato countries, adding 'they're not even capable of defeating Ukraine.' Mr Orban, who is regarded as Vladimir Putin's closest EU ally, also told French TV channel LCI, that the leaders of the Russian Federation 'only understand the language of force, so Europe must also take steps to make itself strong.' Earlier this month, Mr Orban said he would do everything possible to prevent Ukraine from joining the European Union, claiming that Ukraine will 'drain every euro, forint, and zloty that we have invested in supporting European families, farmers, and industry.' Russian forces carried out strikes on military targets in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv with high-precision weapons and drones overnight, its defence ministry said. The air strikes on Kyiv, among the largest in over three years of war, were part of intensified bombardments that Moscow says are retaliation for attacks by Ukrainian forces on Russia. Ukraine says the hours-long strikes hit civilian targets across the capital and at least four people were treated in hospital. Russia has agreed to help North Korea begin production of Shahed-style 'kamikaze' drones, according to Ukraine's military intelligence chief. Long-range kamikaze drones manufactured in North Korea could be used to help Russia strike Ukraine and potentially be used to strike South Korean targets, said Kyrylo Budanov in an interview with The War Korea has supplied soldiers, artillery, drones and ballistic missiles to Russia since the beginning of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. I could smell burning from my room and social media footage taken from rooftops showed clouds of smoke across the city. By 4.15am local time the attacks appeared to die down, after more than two hours of fairly constant assault. Whether there was further damage will become clearer in the coming hours. But already, by 9am, the city was back into its stride: the roads busy with people heading to work. Ukrainian overnight drone strikes forced a temporary suspension of flights in all airports serving Moscow and the country's second-largest city St Petersburg. Russia destroyed a total of 102 Ukrainian drones overnight, its defence ministry - which reports only how many were downed, not the number Ukraine launched - said, reporting no damage. Russia's civil aviation authority Rosaviatsia temporarily halted flights at all four major airports serving Moscow and St. Petersburg's Pulkovo Airport, as well as at airports in nine other cities to ensure safety. Flights in Moscow and some other cities were restored by Tuesday morning, but restrictions were still in place in St. Petersburg at 5.30am BST. From my hotel room in Kyiv, you could hear the sounds of a massive drone strike for much of the night. First, the sour whine of a Shahed. Then the rattle of gunfire by Ukrainian air defences. Finally, all too often, a pounding explosion. For days the capital had braced for Putin's threatened 'revenge' for Operation Spider's Web. It appeared to arrive at around 2am, as the first of a steady flow of missiles swarmed over the city. Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukraine's president, had warned residents to take air raid warnings more seriously. There was little need to repeat the message, amid the staccato bursts of gunfire and percussive detonations. The hotel's air raid shelter filled up: those who had taken their chances the night before, when almost 500 drones were fired at Ukraine, lay on bean-bags or brought down pillows from their rooms. Even for Kyiv residents accustomed to Putin's nightly deliveries, it was a loud, sleepless night. Volodymyr Zelensky today called on the United States and Europe to respond to a fresh bout of Russian attacks of more than 300 drones and seven missiles. 'It is vital that the response to this and other similar Russian attacks is not silence from the world, but concrete action. Action from America, which has the power to force Russia into peace. Action from Europe, which has no alternative but to be strong,' the Ukrainian leader wrote in a post on social media, adding that two of the missiles were North Korean-made. We're bringing you all the latest from the war in Ukraine. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Euronews
03-06-2025
- Politics
- Euronews
Ukraine wants a ceasefire, Russia wants Ukraine to surrender
Residents in western Turkey and the Greek islands were shaken awake on Monday evening when a strong 5.8-magnitude earthquake jolted the Turkish coastal town of Marmaris. A 14-year-old girl died in the town of Fethiye after the quake, Turkish Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said, despite being taken to the hospital. She had suffered a panic attack. The quake, which had a depth of 68 km according to the European Seismological Centre, was felt across the Dodecanese islands. At least 69 people were injured after attempting to jump from heights due to panic caused by the tremors, which were strongly felt on the Greek island of Rhodes — the largest of the Dodecanese islands near the Turkish border. No injuries were reported in Rhodes; however, tourists visiting the island said they woke up to violent shaking. Travel agency TUI cautioned tourists in the region to 'remain calm and follow any safety instructions provided by your accommodation or local officials.' Greek seismologist Efthimios Lekkas told ERT News that the earthquake's depth caused it to be felt across a wider area. "It will not have a significant impact on the surface, there will be no tsunami, and above all, there will not be a rich aftershock sequence," he noted. Due to its significant depth, the quake "was very intense for the residents of Rhodes and its surrounding areas. From here on, there will not be any major damage." Although the second round of talks between Kyiv and Moscow on Monday did not bring an end to Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine any closer, it did provide more details on where both sides stand and, more specifically, what they are demanding from each other. In the run-up to Monday's meeting, Kyiv and Moscow reportedly agreed to both submit their individual "peace memorandum," outlining the key positions before delegations met for talks. Ukraine handed its memorandum to Russia ahead of the meeting, but Russia waited until the meeting took place in Istanbul before delivering its document. Similar to the first round on 16 May, negotiations ended with an agreement for a prisoner exchange covering two categories: young soldiers between the age of 18-25 years and seriously ill POWs. Kyiv and Moscow also agreed to exchange the bodies of the fallen soldiers, numbering 6,000 from each side. Russian state media reported that the heads of the delegations held a separate meeting which lasted two and a half hours – more than twice as long as the official talks – and according to Kremlin-affiliated outlets it "predetermined an efficient course of further negotiations." The key point in Ukraine's roadmap is a ceasefire. Kyiv is demanding that be the first step towards any further measures and any possible peace deals. The Ukrainian delegation again offered Moscow a complete ceasefire as well as a reciprocal exchange of prisoners of war, the return of children abducted by Russia and the release of all civilians from Russian captivity. Defence Minister Rustem Umerov, who led Kyiv's team, confirmed that Ukraine handed to Russia a list of "several hundred" Ukrainian children forcefully deported by Russia. Another item on the agenda was organising a meeting at leadership level, possibly with US President Donald Trump in attendance. "We believe that further work between the delegations makes sense if it is aimed at preparing a meeting between state leaders. We have proposed to the Russian side to hold a meeting at the level of leaders by the end of this month, from 20 to 30 June. This is very important for the negotiation process," Umerov said. According to media reports, Ukraine's memorandum also states that Kyiv will continue on its path toward joining the EU and will become a member of NATO if there is consensus within the alliance. Kyiv is reportedly also calling for security guarantees that would prevent Russia from launching another attack on the country, as well as the involvement of the international community to achieve this. In return, Ukraine reportedly may be willing to accept the gradual lifting of some sanctions against Russia, but with a mechanism for their snapback renewal if necessary. Russia claims to have offered Ukraine a "partial" ceasefire covering certain parts of the frontline in its roadmap. Vladimir Medinsky, the head of the Russian delegation, said Russia prepared a "two-part memorandum" the second part of which proposes a two to three-day ceasefire in certain areas during the negotiations. He also announced the upcoming prisoner exchange and confirmed that the Russian delegation had received a list of 339 names of the children handed over by Ukraine. Medinsky said Russia will consider each case on the list and accused Kyiv of what he called "staging a show" on the topic of the deported children, adding that it is mainly targeted at "sympathetic Europeans." Medinsky said Kyiv is "trying to squeeze out a tear by raising this issue." According to official Ukrainian information, up to 20,000 Ukrainian children remain in Russia after being illegally deported from Ukraine. These are the children for whom detailed information has been collected. Their place of residence in Ukraine and their location in Russia are known. The actual figure is likely to be much higher. Yale's Humanitarian Research Lab placed the number of deported Ukrainian children closer to 35,000. Moscow claimed the number could be as high as 700,000. Regarding a complete ceasefire, Russia's first condition is Kyiv's "complete withdrawal of forces" from four regions of Ukraine - Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson - which Moscow claims as its own annexed "new territories." Russia also demands international recognition of the territories it has occupied since 2014, including the Crimean Peninsula. As per Russia's roadmap, Western arms supplies to Ukraine should be stopped during the ceasefire and this also applies to intelligence sharing. Moscow also demands Ukraine lift martial law and hold elections before any peace deal can be signed. The Monday meeting in Istanbul took place a day after Ukraine's operation "Spiderweb," which says Kyiv hit over a third of all Russian missile carriers in a coordinated drone attack on Sunday. Following that operation, Russia's demands to Ukraine voiced in Istanbul also include "Kyiv's refusal to engage in sabotage and subversive activities against Russia." Cambodia has said it plans to seek a ruling from the UN's International Court of Justice (ICJ) over border disputes with Thailand, one of which triggered a fatal military clash last week. Cambodia's National Assembly, where Prime Minister Hun Manet's ruling Cambodian People's Party holds all but a handful of seats, voted on Monday to support the government's decision. In 1962, the ICJ awarded to Cambodia disputed territory on which a historic temple is located, a move that rankled Thailand and to this day remains a major irritant in bilateral relations. The ICJ reaffirmed that ruling in 2013. Speaking on Monday at a meeting of the Paris-based Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, Thailand's Foreign Minister Maris Sangiampongsa said Cambodia has the right to file a case with the court, but that would not affect talks between the two countries under existing mechanisms. He said Thai officials will meet later this week to issue a clear stance on the matter. Thailand's Deputy Prime Minister Phumtham Wechayachai, who is also defence minister, said in a post on Facebook that both countries are working to resolve the crisis by avoiding further confrontations and violence. "I'd like to assure that we will avoid escalation of the conflict that would only result in losses for both sides in every aspect," he wrote. A border dispute near Morokot village in Cambodia's northwestern province of Preah Vihear on 28 May left one Cambodian soldier dead. It started when Cambodian troops were conducting a routine patrol along the border when the Thai side opened fire, according to Cambodian officials. The Thai army says that Cambodian soldiers entered a disputed patch of land and opened fire when Thai soldiers approached them to negotiate. Hun Manet in social media posts on Sunday said that his government will ask the court to rule on the demarcation of several disputed areas, including where the centuries-old Hindu-style Ta Moan Thom, Ta Moan Toch and Ta Kro Bei temples are located. In February, Cambodian troops and their family members entered the Ta Moan Thom temple in disputed territory and sang the Cambodian national anthem, leading to a brief argument with Thai forces. Following last week's incident, both sides called for calm and talks to ease their differences, while reserving the right to use military action to safeguard their sovereignty. On 29 May, the two countries' army commanders met to discuss how to avoid more clashes. On Monday, Hun Manet called for the two countries to have their Joint Border Commission continue the work of border demarcation, as well as having the ICJ take up the issue. He said his government would take the cases of the other disputed areas to the ICJ to determine ownership even if Thailand did not join in the appeal, in order "to end this problem and extinguish it once and for all so that there is no further confusion." "In particular, let's not fall for the incitement of a handful of extremist groups in Cambodia and Thailand, and let's not fall into the problem of confrontation by armed forces of the two countries," he said. Hun Manet's intention to appeal to The Hague-based court may touch a nerve in Thailand because the 1962 ruling awarding the Preah Vihear temple to Cambodia is a touchstone issue for Thai nationalists and often comes up in domestic politics. Last year, Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinatwatra's government was attacked on nationalist grounds for proposing to resume talks with Cambodia on demarcation of maritime territory believed to hold profitable hydrocarbon resources. In 2008, there were several deadly clashes between Cambodia and Thai forces at the Preah Vihear promontory, an area on which sits a 1,000-year-old temple that was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site the same year.
